


until we hit the ground

by Noducksinpond



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dark!Kate, Multi, Post Season 2, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-30 11:31:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5162321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noducksinpond/pseuds/Noducksinpond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She remembered the blood flowing through her, the overwhelming need for revenge. Seth, Richie, Scott, you loved them so much and they used you until there was nothing left! Make them pay! Make them pay!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> I´m really not sure about this story, but I´m half way through writing it, so I might as well post it.

She´s managed to keep up with her for months now. It´s actually quite impressive; or at least Santanico would be impressed, if she didn´t find her tracker endlessly annoying. She, because at this point she was fairly certain it was a woman, had been 3 steps behind her since about a month after Santanico had left Jack-knifes under new management. Santanico hadn´t caught the woman red-handed so far, it was almost like she was waiting for something, or for someone to make a mistake. She also only caught her in fleeting glimpses; clearly good at playing hide and fucking seek. But Santanico knew she was there, even if she couldn´t identify the exact person.

But other than her stalker, the last 4 months had been good. Of course, 4 months felt like nothing compared to a thousand years, but there was a huge difference now. She liked her life. She wasn´t Malvado´s slave girl or Carlos´ “girlfriend,” she wasn´t even out for revenge on either one of them. She was just herself, whoever that was now. Trying to live her life for the first time, instead of just a distant echo of one. But she knew one thing, whoever she was now, it was better than before.

She had been in her prison for so long, actually being out of it still felt odd, foreign. They had overshadowed everything she had done, even after Richie had gotten her out of the Titty Twister. Now that both Malvado, Carlos and Richard were out of her life, she felt like she was standing in the sunlight. It felt like she was standing in the sunlight for the first time in 1000 years, no shadows to hide in nothing. Even if she was obviously still stuck in the dark, it felt like sun in a weird sense.

Santanico had considered the possibility that the stalker was Richard´s doing, but she also liked to imagine that he wouldn´t have the guts to do that. That he, after everything, did have that much respect for her. He might have grown somewhat attached to her, but he knew what she needed too. Which meant, the tracker more than likely was a nuisance sent by someone left over from Malvado´s days. As she found her room for the day, it turned out Santanico wouldn´t have to wait longer for her answer, as a barrel of a gun was pressed between her shoulder blades.

“You know that shit can´t kill me right?” Santanico said quietly keeping herself completely calm. Her attacker turned her around, and she had to do her very best to control her expression, when she saw the somewhat familiar face. _No that can´t be her. She died._ She quickly schooled her expression into one of mild annoyance. “Didn´t Carlos kill you?”

“He did, La Diosa,” Kate Fuller replied, or whoever she was now. Santanico didn´t know yet, she didn´t look like a culebra, and she was usually able to tell. Culebras smelled a certain way, and had a certain look to them. The girl´s gaze was ice cold, nothing like what Santanico vaguely remembered from the couple of times she´d managed to see the girl. She had seen Kate a couple of times, at the Twister and later. There wasn´t even a switch of expression on her face, as she spoke about her own death. “But I´ve been waiting around for _3_ months, for you to go find Seth, Ritchie or my brother, and I´m tired of waiting. So now you´re going to do what _I_ want.”

“And why exactly would I do that?” Santanico bit back, her words laced with acid. She crossed her arms, and glared at Kate. Kate smirked, almost like she knew something Santanico didn´t. She would gladly wipe that smirk of her face, but if this really was Kate, it would probably earn her a couple of very pissed off Geckos, if they ever found out. “I have no reason to.”

“I want to find my way back to them,” Kate said simply, and there was a sudden sadness in her gaze. Something that hadn´t been there a couple of seconds earlier. It was jarring. It looked like she was letting Santanico underneath whatever mask, she´d been hiding behind. Or maybe this was the mask, it was hard to tell when you didn´t really know the girl, who stood in front of you. “But I have no idea where they are.”

“I´m not taking you to them,” Santanico replied sternly. Kate´s gaze begged her to listen, but if Santanico had to be honest with herself, she wasn´t planning on seeing Jack-knifes again right now. More specifically, she wasn´t interested in seeing the Geckos again right now. “I don´t want to go back.”

“But I do,” and she looked more desperate now. Kate was shaking a little, clenching her hand around her gun. The girl hadn´t known about weapons at The Twister, someone must have taught her how to fire. “And I need your help. Please.”

…

“What the fuck, did I say about biting _paying_ customers?” Seth bit at Scott, and grabbed his shoulders once they were out back. The teenager just glared at him, his eyes flashing yellow for a second. Had this been the first time, Seth might have let Scott go back inside Jack-knifes, and continue work without comment. But this wasn´t the first time, Scott had almost bit various dirtbags who made it past the bar. He lost control a little too often for Seth´s taste.

In reality, he probably shouldn´t even work for them, but he and Richie had agreed on one thing. They owed her, so Scott stuck around anyway. It wasn´t like Scott had anywhere else to go, anyway. He had kind of stuck around after they killed Carlos, initially not really knowing what to do. It was either abandoning the kid and doing Kate one last disservice, or letting him stick around. They´d quickly decided on option 2.

“He was getting too handsy with Vivi,” Scott replied, still clearly pissed at Seth for pulling him away from the large trucker, 5 minutes earlier. The boy was only somewhat keeping himself under control, and it looked like he still considered ripping his throat out. Not that Seth was surprised Scott was defending the little culebra waitress´ honour. Scott had not so subtly been gawking at her for the last couple of weeks. Richie had rolled his eyes once he noticed, and Seth hadn´t given enough of a shit to comment on it at all. “I was just trying to help.”

“Vivi could have bit him, if it bothered her,” Seth bit back sharply, even though he probably would have helped Vivi out too. The difference between Scott and himself was just that Seth wouldn´t have eaten the trucker. Which Scott had been pretty fucking close to do. Granted, Scott was also a culebra, but that was beside the fucking point. “Now, you go back to your job, which Richie and I pay you _nicely_ to do. If anyone is biting that shithead, once he´s paid, it´s Vivi, you got it?”

“Got it,” Scott grumbled and Seth let go of him. The teenager made it back inside Jack-knifes, and Seth let out a deep breath. You´d think after 4 months, the kid would have learned his lesson. And he´d thought having to deal with Kate´s judging looks and nearly constant arguing, with every fucking thing he said, was a challenge. Seth bit his lip, it looked like he needed a drink tonight. He had mostly stopped bringing Kate up, but the memory of her still stung. Kate was dead and there was no changing that. Fucking dead and gone. He scraped his heel against the ground.

“Boss?” Seth looked up to see one of the culebras waiting for him at the door. Seth still wasn´t sure why some of them insisted on calling both of them boss. That had got to be confusing, even for the fucking snakes. But this culebra was relatively new at Jack-knifes, Seth hadn´t learned his name yet. “The boss wants to talk, you have guests apparently.”

“That shit can wait,” Seth replied with a dismissive hand. He wanted to get some booze down, before he had whatever chat Richie wanted to have. Booze at least dulled his head a little, and made it easier to deal with important shit and Richie at the same time. They were still arguing, but they were doing it less than they had before. They´d realized, they needed to stick together after all the shit with Freddie and Kate, so the two of them did their best try to get along. It also made running a business a lot smoother.

“He says it´s urgent, life or death. It´s important,” the culebra replied, currently sounding more worried about Richie than Seth, which was pretty fucking irritating, considering they were business partners. Seth rolled his eyes, and stomped once in the ground. But someone with Malvado´s endorsement was probably scarier than his brother. “Boss said to get you there, ASAP.”

“Fine, but if it´s the fucking wallpaper again, I´m staking him,” he said with a deep annoyed sigh after a moment of silence, as he followed the culebra back inside, remembering the last time he´d been summoned. Seth made his way past the busy waitresses, more or less rowdy customers, and the band, and out back. The door to the downstairs corridors slid open, and Seth headed downstairs with some slow steps.

…

“Kate,” Richard said her name, practically in awe. He moved slowly towards her, and she had to do her best not to flinch or fire the gun in her hand. She would wait for Scott and Seth. That was the plan; she needed to wait for them. She wouldn´t do what she´d come for until then. _Make them pay,_ the voice that had been playing on repeat in her head, since she came back reminded. It wasn´t the first time, she´d heard that. “You´re alive, you´re- you´re okay.”

He paused in front of her, and looked down at her. _Fire!_ The voice reminded her, but Kate didn´t touch the trigger. It could wait, she would have to execute the plan quickly, in order for it to work. Couldn´t do it without Seth or Scott there. She had to wait, even if the gun was weighing down in her hand. If she waited, she´d get her shot.

“Yes,” she said softly, and gave him a smile, which he clearly bought from the expression on his face. That meant, she had the time to wait. _He wants to be forgiven so badly, he doesn´t even recognize you aren´t doing that._ The voice told her gloatingly. She bit her lip a little. “I´m okay.”

“How? What happened?” Richie asked softly, and put a hand on her shoulder. She remembered the blood flowing through her, the overwhelming need for revenge. _Seth, Richie, Scott, you loved them so much and they used you until there was nothing left! Make them pay!_ _Make them pay!_ The voice had never stopped. “How are you here, Kate?”

“Does it matter?” she asked her voice a little shaky, tears rimming the edges of her eyes. She tugged a little at his collar with her free hand, giving him a shy smile. Richie gave her a look, which made it hard to believe that he didn´t care about her. That he didn´t genuinely regret what had happened. _But he doesn´t, and you know that. If he did, he wouldn´t have used you. If he did, you wouldn´t have died._ “I´m here now, isn´t that what´s important?”

Richie doesn´t answer that, she doesn´t think, he knows how to. He says something else instead, something that catches her more than a little off guard. “I´m sorry you died. I didn´t mean to let you die Kate, you know that right?” he asked, his voice shaking just a little.

“Good thing, I´m alive then,” she replied with a warm smile. Then she hears the footsteps in the hallway, and she tenses a little in her shoulders. They´re louder than culebra steps, and slower than Scott would walk. The footsteps stop suddenly, and she knows the pieces have clicked in his head. _Guess he´s off the heroin then._ She wasn´t sure whether that was the voice or her. She slowly turned around to see Seth Gecko facing her. He doesn´t speak, he just stares at her. “Seth-“ she began.

It´s like time starts again at that, as he quickly moves towards her, with a look that could probably kill her again. Or maybe that look is directed at Richie. _It doesn´t matter. Neither one of them matters._ “How? How the hell are you here? How-“ the last word is barely audible.

“I´m sorry,” she whispered quietly, as he paused in front of her.

“No! Don´t you fucking dare apologize, Katie,” he bit at her, and now it was his turn to be sniffling. Only, unlike her he wasn´t playing and she knew it. _Wrong, he kicked you out of a car in the middle of the night. He doesn´t care. None of them do._ “I´m the one who´s sorry.”

Then he catches her completely off guard, as he slowly pulls her into a hug. They hadn´t done something like that in Mexico, never been too close to each other. But yet here he is, clinging onto her, like he never wants to let go. Kate lets him stand there, even wraps one arm around his shoulder, burying her face in his shirt, just for a minute. _Make them pay!_ “Where is Scott?” she asked below her breath.

“Upstairs, he´ll been down in a sec,” Richie told her. She pulled a little bit away from Seth then, and smiled between the three of them. She clenched the gun a little tighter. _Shoot Seth, he´s the easy target. You can take care of the other two once he´s down._

“Then I guess, we should get started without him,” she said with a deep breath. _Shoot Seth._ She had never been more grateful for her new abilities, than she was then, as Kate spun around faster, than she´d ever been able to before, and fired the gun at Richie´s chest. Seth reached out for her trying to tackle her, which meant she didn´t quite have a chance to hit him. She misfired at the ceiling, as he knocked the gun out of her hand. He launched at her, once he´d gotten over the initial shock, and pushed her down into the floor.

“What the hell are you doing?!” He yelled. She didn´t dignify that with an answer, she just kicked him off and sent him flying towards the wall instead. That was easy now. She heard the pained sound that escaped him, as he collided with the bricks. _Good._ She jumped to her feet in an instant, and twisted around to finish off Richie. That was exactly the moment Santanico slammed her into the floor, keeping her down.

“You should have stayed dead,” Santanico sneered, eyes glowing yellow and with rage. Santanico was straddling her, her hands clenching her wrists so tight, they could practically break.

“Fuck you!” she bit at her. _She´s to blame too, she started this whole mess._ She managed to push herself up a little, and Santanico´s grip loosened, which she took as her opportunity to push Santanico off completely. She scrambled for the gun then, _shoot Seth too, while you have the chance_. Seth was still hunched against the wall, another whimper escaping him. Her fingers closed around the gun. _Kill him._ She pushed herself off the floor and aimed. But she wasn´t facing the door. Something heavy slammed against the back of her head, and spots dotted her vision, blood in her mouth, as the world quickly became blacker.


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I worked a bit more with this outline I realized it needed to be a bit longer than 3 chapters, so 5 it is. Hope you enjoy it.

“And you´re sure that will hold her?” Seth asked, his voice hoarse and cracking at the end. He looked like hitting the wall ten minutes ago, hadn´t been too much fun. The expression on his face was hollow. He looked like he was standing at a funeral. Richie watched as if in a daze. He couldn´t believe this was happening, and he wanted to kick something, scream or cry. He wasn´t sure in which order. But for now, he was just leaning heavily against the desk, as he watched Seth, Scott and Santanico tie Kate up. Kate who had tried to kill him less than 10 minutes ago. _“I hope you burn in hell.”_

“Malvado had these forged about 200 years ago, in case he´d need to hold one of the lords,” Santanico explained in a solemn voice. She didn´t look either Richie or Seth in the eye. Scott was just avoiding looking at anyone of them, which Richie didn´t blame him for. “They´re unbreakable. She won´t be able to escape on her own, even with more strength.”

Seth sighed deeply, and Scott looked like he was on the verge of screaming. Richie´s hands were shaking. But besides that, the only other sound in the office was the rustling of the chains, as the three continued to wrap the chains around Kate´s limb body. Kate who had tried to kill him.

“Haven´t they rusted?” Richie asked quietly, saying something for the first time, since Kate had shot him in the chest. He looked down on the blood on his shirt, it had healed already, but he still felt like his chest had a hole in it. Santanico gave him a partially confused, partially annoyed look. “After 200 years?”

“ _Unbreakable_ chains, Richard,” Santanico bit at him.

“I just want to know-“ Richie protested weakly.

“And now you do,” Seth cut him off, anger lacing his words. His voice felt like a slap to the face or a punch in the gut, and Scott looked like the only one who felt a little bad for him. Seth bit his lip, and he was a little less angry when he spoke again. “So shut your mouth, Richard!”

None of the four said anything in a few minutes, as Seth, Scott and Santanico finished their work with the chains. Kate obviously didn´t say anything, she was still knocked out cold. Something stung in the corners of his eyes, and he swallowed hard. “I can´t believe Kate would do this,” Scott said, his voice barely audible, as he cast a long look at the unconscious girl on the floor. Kate looked like she was sleeping, apart from the blood at the edge of her mouth.

“Because she wouldn´t,” Seth added quietly, his eyes fixated on the ground. His shoulders were hunched and he was breathing hard. Richie could recognize misery in his brother´s expression, better than he could in his own. But Seth was wrong, Kate would do this. _“There´s no more love left, Richard.”_ She _would_ do this, and he wouldn´t blame her. “Kate wouldn´t do this.”

“You´re wrong,” Richie whispered shakily, a lump in his throat.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Scott snapped, almost like he´d forgotten what happened that night, what she´d said to both of them. Scott clenched his fists and glared at him, looking about ready to punch Richie in the face. “Of course, she fucking wouldn´t.”

“You were there Scott!” Richie yelled, and everyone else gave him a confused look. Richie drew in a deep breath. His voice shook as he continued, even if he was still angry. “You were fucking there! You heard how angry she was with you- with me.” He could feel the tears in his eyes, and his voice was thick, as he spoke again. “You heard her, when she told me to burn-“

He buried his face in his hands, and couldn´t keep the tears in anymore. Richie breathed rapidly, in and out, in and out, and squeezed his eyes shut. He shook his head, desperately trying to stop seeing Kate´s hateful look. Richie looked up again, and at the three others who were watching him with more or less worried looks on their faces. His words were barely audible. “When she told me- When she told me to burn in hell.”

“Richie-“ Seth began and took a step towards him, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

“No! Don´t you fucking dare tell me, this isn´t all my fault or she didn´t mean it, Seth!” Richie bit at him, his voice cracking a little. “She died hating me.”

“If she was just here to kill you,” Scott said under his breath after a minute of silence. His gaze was fixated on the ground, but quickly looked up at them. “Then why wait that long, why even tag along with her?” He gestured towards Santanico, who just shrugged. “It took two culebras to knock her out, she could have killed you pretty easy without announcing she was even alive.”

“Can we not talk about this right now?” Richie asked quietly. He really didn´t want to talk about, how much sense it didn´t make that Kate had tried to kill him 10 minutes ago. Because it made pretty fucking good sense to him. Kate had died hating him, had come back to life hating him too. Hating him enough to try and kill him.

“No, Richard,” Santanico replied. Richie had almost forgotten how irritating she could be, when she wanted to be. He would probably have gotten annoyed with her, if he had been able to think about anything other than Kate. “He´s right. Something about it doesn´t make sense.”

“She was waiting for something,” Seth agreed, his voice a little hoarser again. He breathed out heavily. “She asked about Scott, almost as soon as I came down here. She didn´t do anything until I told her, he was on his way.”

“You think, she meant to kill us too?” Scott asked. Seth nodded.

“It makes sense, I kicked her out of a car in Mexico, and you´re part of the reason why she was even at that oil rig,” Seth drew in a shaky breath. He looked at the floor again. There was that miserable expression again. “So yeah- that´s exactly what I think.”

Santanico looked like she was contemplating something, but Richie just started walking, and made for a beeline towards the stairs. He ignored the scent of Kate, as he left the office. He definitely didn´t notice it at all. _“There´s no more love left, Richard. I hope you burn in hell.”_

…

Santanico sat down on the floor next to Kate´s still unconscious body, Scott drew in a sharp breath. He didn´t know much about La Diosa, he hadn´t really had any first hand experiences with her. He knew, she was a big part of the reason why they´d come to the Twister, and he knew Carlos had been obsessed with her in some sort of way. But Scott felt like he didn´t know her, and that was what worried him about her being so close to his sister. “What are you doing?” he asked, as Santanico reached out for her, slow and deliberate movement.

Santanico froze and turned her head to look at him, almost like she had forgotten he was even there. “I´m not going to do anything to her, Scott,” she said quietly. Her voice was oddly reassuring, which wasn´t something he´d associate with her normally, if a normal even existed about Santanico, when she spoke again. “Just going to find out, why she is doing this, if it´s even her.”

“Why isn´t Seth and Richie here then?” he asked, and walked closer to her. Santanico held his gaze. He couldn´t read her expression at all, which was exactly what worried him.

“They´re overly emotional,” Santanico said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. “It´s not helping anyone.” She paused and drew in a breath. “You don´t have to be here either, Scott. I´m sure they have work upstairs for you.”

“I´m not leaving her alone with you,” Scott retorted stubbornly. Santanico looked like she rolled her eyes at him, but Scott chose to ignore it.

“Fine,” Santanico said coldly. “Just don´t interrupt.”

Scott took a couple of steps back, and sat down on one of the Gecko brothers´ office chairs. They could have picked some fucking better chairs. Not, that that was important right now. “We know you can hear us,” Santanico said with a spiteful tone, and it was like Scott wasn´t even there at all. “So you can wake up now.”

“Thank god,” Kate said with a dry laugh, which again was so uncharacteristic that it had Scott believe Seth was right. “This was getting boring. Mind untying me while we´re at it?” She looked up at him with a slightly begging look in her eyes.

“He´s not going to do anything,” Santanico said with a glare at Kate. Kate smirked. “The only person, you need to concern yourself with is me. You were here to kill the three of them right?”

“Of course, I was,” Kate said quietly, her voice unshaken. Her gaze was so dark, and it was so alien in his sister´s expression, that Scott found it more than a little terrifying. “Seth kicked me out of his car in Mexico, when I became too much of a problem. I tried so hard to save Scott, and the way he thanked me was wanting to turn me into a culebra when I died. And Richie used me to be the boss, he never wanted to help me find Scott! Even though that was all I wanted. They all need to pay. They deserve to die.”

“Yeah, yeah, I have heard that one before,” Santanico said dismissively. “I don´t actually blame you too much, Kate. But there´s one question I do have, and I´d appreciate it if you answered honestly, why shoot Richie first?” An annoyed expression crossed her face, and she twitched slightly. Or as much as she could twitch when wrapped up in chains. “Your gun wasn´t loaded with anything that could kill a culebra, and yet you twisted around and shot Richie in the chest when Seth was right in front of you. Doesn´t make much sense to me.”

“I wasn´t thinking clearly,” she said simply, and it was obvious even to Scott, that she was hiding something. Maybe this wasn´t his sister, but he could still tell when she was lying. “Plan didn´t go as I was expecting it to.”

“I said, _honest_ answer, Kate,” Santanico bit at her, and looked about ready to slap her. Kate glared at her. “Because here´s the thing. I think you wanted to shoot Seth first. I think that was your plan, but she wouldn´t let you would she?” There was a flicker of a look on Kate´s face, and Scott leant a little forward in his seat. “Knew it,” Santanico said with a satisfied smirk. “So how about you tell me who the fuck you are?”

“I am Santa Sangre,” Kate replied with a calm expression, like Santanico figuring out her bluff wasn´t a big deal at all. But Scott could still see the slightly shaken expression on his sister´s face. She hadn´t expected anyone to figure it out. At least not until, he, Seth and Richie were all dead. “I am the lost souls who were buried to create the blood well.”

“So what, you just made her wanna kill us all?” Scott asked, and Santanico glared at him. But fuck if he was going to stay silent, if his sister wanted to kill him because of the shit Carlos had dug up from the blood well. Scott kind of wished he could chop the guy´s head off again. Actually, kind of was an understatement. He´d be happy if he got to slice his head off, every day for the rest of his life. Scott clenched his fists tightly, and leant a little forward in his chair. Santanico rolled her eyes, and returned her attention to Not-Kate.

“I can´t make a vessel do anything, it doesn´t want to do,” Not-Kate said with a deadly seriousness to her words. Scott couldn´t believe her, Kate wouldn´t do this. But seeing the look on her face, it was hard to keep believing in his sister. To keep believing in the good, do-no-wrong girl, she had been before. Or at least before the Geckos had kidnapped them and dragged them off to Mexico. “I am a tool of revenge. She wanted revenge, I helped.”

When Santanico didn´t say anything, she continued: “Can you imagine being buried alive La Diosa? Being one of those thousand helpless souls, who just had to die? Who just had to suffocate until there was no air left? The sheer rage towards those who had kicked you down there? The thirst to get revenge is what drives me, Santanico Pandemonium. It´s all I have.”

Standing up, Santanico didn´t let her gaze leave the chained girl on the floor. She gave her a long searching look, almost as if she was weighing the truth of her words. Santanico bit her lip hard enough to draw a little blood, but Scott didn´t think she noticed. “So, final question. How do we get you out of there?”

Not-Kate laughed quietly. Scott had heard his sister laugh dozens of times before mom died, but this was different. This laughter was nothing like that. This laughter was mocking, unsettling, almost like she was still winning even though she was still chained up, like they were all playing her game. “That´s easy,” Not-Kate replied. “You either kill me, and both Kate and I die and rot in hell for a long time. Or, you let me violently kill Scott, Seth and Richie and anyone else Kate wants revenge on, and then once I´ve done that, Kate gets to die in peace.”

“Well, then I got news for you,” Santanico all but sneered at her. “That´s not happening.”

Her hand slammed against the back of Kate´s head, effectively knocking her out again. “What are you doing?!” Scott yelled, and had to stop himself from tearing Santanico´s head off.

“She has superpowers,” Santanico said simply. She was completely untouched by how Scott glared at her and clenched his fists, which made him even angrier. “We have no clue, whether she can hear anything, we don´t want her to hear.”

“What´s the point of her not hearing something?” Scott bit at her. Santanico sighed. Scott briefly wondered if it was possible for her, to not look like someone he wanted to punch in the face. So far it didn´t seem like it. “We can´t fucking get her out of there anyway.”

“Is that really what your dad and Kate would do?” Santanico asked, as she slowly pushed past him, ignoring his anger. “Give up hope just like that?”

Santanico quietly left the room, and Scott punched the closest possible thing, which happened to be a stonewall. That did hurt a little, and he bit down sharply on his lip. _Fuck it all._ Fuck his dad for dragging them on that road trip! Fuck the Geckos for kidnapping them! Fuck Carlos for killing Kate! Fuck that thing for possessing Kate, and not letting her die in peace! Fuck Santanico for dragging Kate back into his life, just when he had started to accept she was gone! Scott sent one last glance at the unconscious Kate. “Fuck it all,” he muttered under his breath, and left the office.

…

“Where´s Richard?” Santanico asked, as she found Seth in his own office. Seth turned around, but for once he didn´t bother to put on a defensive attitude. Santanico had only seen him look so lost for hope, when he had left her and Richard at the Twister. Santanico hadn´t had as much opportunity to pry in what Seth and Kate had been doing since the Twister, as she would have liked. It would have made it easier to understand what Seth was thinking.

“He stormed off,” Seth said, voice solemn. He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Probably out comfort eating someone, I don´t really give a shit.”

“Of course you do,” Santanico replied. Seth glared at her.

“Alright, so fucking what if I do?” Seth bit at her. Santanico just looked at him, not giving him the satisfaction of starting an argument. Seth liked arguments; arguments were easier than just talking. “What do you want with him anyway?”

“I questioned her,” Santanico said calmly, and Seth instantly stilled.

“You did what?” Seth asked, his voice shaking a little. He quickly settled himself, but Santanico could still see the look in his eyes. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I knew something was wrong, and I wanted to figure out what exactly,” Santanico said. “If she was just a vengeful resurrected girl, she would have shot you first, that was the ammo the gun was loaded with!”

Seth looked lost for words then, and let out a shuddering breath. He sat down on his desk, looking into the floor. Santanico gave him the time to process what she was saying. He then looked up at her again, and swallowed hard, looking like he was practically ready to take a punch. “Fine! What did she say then?” Seth asked quietly, the words clearly not as sharp as he had intended them to be.

Santanico explained the entire conversation, which she had had with Santa Sangre. Seth probably thought, he could hide the way he felt every now and again. That he was an good actor. She´d caught that much, when she had gotten inside his head. But Santanico could read everything on his face, as she explained the whole thing. The light in his eyes, when she told him Kate was still in there, and maybe actually didn´t want to kill them, even if she was angry with them. The way that light seemed to switch off, once she got to how they got the spirit out of Kate. “How- How do you know she´s not lying?” Seth asked quietly, once Santanico had finished off her explanation.

“Seth, I spent 1000 years, lying, manipulating and cheating just to see my next sundown,” Santanico looked down into the floor, and bit down hard on her lip. She had moved past that now though, she was better and beyond Malvado. After all, she´d killed him. She made eye contact with Seth again, she wasn´t ashamed of her past, but that didn´t mean, she liked thinking back on it. “I know a thing or two about lying.”

Seth didn´t say anything, he just nodded. It was more than likely a lot to handle. Not that Santanico was particularly attached to Kate, but she knew both the Geckos were. “For what it´s worth, I´m sorry about letting her trick me, and bring her here,” Santanico said quietly.

“Yeah well,” Seth muttered under his breath, and got up from the desk, dragging his feet towards the door. “You´re not the only one, she tricked.”

“Where are you going?” Santanico bit at him, her voice sharp. She should probably have realized, she couldn´t boss Seth around. But unfortunately it hit her a moment too late.

“I´m gonna talk to her,” Seth said, his voice more determined and annoyed than before. “And you´re not fucking stopping me.”


	3. Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this took a month. I´m sorry about that, but at least here we are now.

She wakes up to a splash of water in the face, and Seth Gecko´s dark glare at her, which she really wouldn´t say qualified as nice. Getting him off the heroin had apparently just made him rude. She laughed quietly to herself, as he let the bucket drop to the floor, the only sound in the room apart from the laughter. Before she would have just let it slide, because this was the kind of thing he would do. _You´re beyond that now,_ the voice reminded her. “You know, even considering how things ended between us, this is a new low for you,” she said with a smirk.

“Shut the fuck up, I know you´re not her,” Seth said below his breath, his words barely audible and slow. She smiled at him _, La Diosa really have a mouth to her doesn´t she?_ The voice asked. Or had Seth just decided that his precious little Kate wouldn´t try to kill him? She wasn´t sure which one applied here, but it didn´t matter anyway. The most important thing was that he was here, here to talk, and it was her shot for another chance. If nothing else to humiliate him.

“Oh but I am,” she replied, positively gleeful. Even though she was sitting on the floor, she still had the upper hand. _You´re still winning._ Because she didn´t give a shit about him anymore, whilst he cared way too much about her. Anyone with a pair of eyes could see that. Seth had an empty, lost look in his eyes. Something had broken him, and completely smashed him. _If we did that, then that´s good_. Her explanation was calm and collected, as she continued. “I am Kate as well as me, and she wanted revenge. So I´m going to take it, it´s who I am, it´s what I do.”

She saw the recognition of the line flash across his face for a moment, a memory of a different time, before he had fucked it all up. Before he had condemned her. She also saw the pain, and wanted to laugh at how easy he was to handle. Then came the anger, she had expected that too. Water dripped from her hair onto the floor. “Oh you can do better than that, Katie-cakes.”

“Why bother? This is enough to mess you up,” she said with a smirk, trying desperately to ignore how infuriating it was, he called her that. _He deserves it._ She clenched her fists, even if that was harder with the chains in the way. She couldn´t get angry at him, however tempting it was. “And screwing with you is a lot of fun, if I´m honest.”

“You remember what I taught you about acting, Kate?” Seth asked, and the question caught her a little off guard. That wasn´t what she had expected him to ask her. She quickly schooled her expression into one of boredom crossed with annoyance. It was probably the one, which would work best in that situation.

“Why would I remember that?” she said with acid lacing her words. She grinned widely with teeth and all. Seth´s expression was almost as annoyed as hers, but he´d put away the pain. Hidden it before, he thought she would notice. _He keeps doing that, it keeps not working._ The voice said mockingly. “I came here to shoot you in the heart, Seth. Not to trade old war stories, or whatever you think you´re doing.”

“If you have her inside your head, which is exactly what you´re fucking saying you do, then you remember,” Seth bit at her. He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “So recap, I don´t have all day.”

“Fine,” she said and rolled her eyes. She did her absolute best to sound bored out of her mind, when she explained it. Because of course she remembered, she remembered everything from before she died. It was really annoying. She remembered the car they´d been sitting in, that Seth had drinking a Coca Cola, and they´d been driving down south. “You said the key to pulling off a job is acting. You need to convince the shitheads you´re robbing, that you know exactly what you´re doing, and you have got everything under control. It doesn´t matter if you do, you need to act as if you do. If you can´t sell the act, you can´t rob anybody.”

“Impressive, Kate,” Seth retorted, and she could see the sadness sneak its way back into his expression. He quickly filed it away though. He really should have better control of himself. “You´ve really been paying attention to me, huh?”

“Yeah, well why do you think she wants revenge on you?” she bit at him, words cutting like a knife, but he deserved that. Because she remembered the pain, Kate had felt when Seth dropped her at the side of the road. She deserved revenge for that, just like all the other pain, which she had been coursed. “Now tell me, why you wanted to know?”

“Because here´s the thing, _Katie-cakes_ ,” Seth began, and she felt that underlining anger at the nickname again. Her nails dug into her palms. _Screw you Seth,_ Kate thought to herself. _Screw you._ “You gotta sell me on your act too. You have got to convince me that you´ve got this shit under control, don´t you? That there´s nothing left of Kate, who is on our side. Nothing left to save, so we´ll either kill you or let you kill us. But here´s where it gets interesting, I don´t believe you.”

“You´re delusional,” she snapped, but then Seth actually laughed a little. Chuckled quietly to himself. It was oddly unsettling to her, he´d never laughed that way before she had died. _He is trying to play you, ignore him._ He had been broken, since she´d seen him last, and that laugh just confirmed it to her. Maybe he didn´t even realize it himself, but it was so obvious to her, that somewhere between her memories of him and now, he´d snapped.

“Really sucks to be called out on your shit doesn´t it, Katie-cakes?” Seth said with a smirk. She wanted nothing more than to tell him to shut up. _Don´t, don´t do that,_ the voice told her. But he shouldn´t call her that. Nobody should call her that. _Be quiet,_ the voice reminded her angrily. Kate balled her fists, the memory of her father still fresh in her head.

“Don´t call me that!” Kate bit at him, her words icy. If possible, Seth´s grin became even wider. He crouched down in front of her, and looked at her, something both sad but hopeful in his eyes.

“There´s my girl,” he said quietly, still smiling. _That was a mistake. No more mistakes like that._ “You wouldn´t let anyone but your old man call you that, would you? Still remember what is was like killing him down in that temple don´t you? But he deserved it too right? After all, he dragged you down south away from your nice life-“

“Shut your goddamn mouth, Seth!” Kate yelled at him, her voice echoing in the quiet room. Seth didn´t say anything, he just got back up on his feet, and looked down at her. He just watched her, and she felt impossibly small underneath his gaze. It was annoying. She probably let it pass for about a minute. _Wipe that smirk off his face._ “Are you going to ramble on, or are you going to leave me alone?”

Seth didn´t answer, he just turned on his heel and left. _We´ll kill him first. Make him scream in pain. You´d like that wouldn´t you?_ Kate just leant back against the wall, and closed her eyes again. _I know you´d like that._

…

Richard was in bed, blinds shut and bedspread pulled over his head. It shouldn´t have surprised Seth, given how whiny he could be from time to time, but regardless Seth still let out a frustrated sigh. The guy ran a vampire empire, finally had the power he loved so much, and yet here he was hiding away under a bedspread, like he was 12 and hadn´t gotten enough candy. “Get up shithead,” Seth greeted him drily.

“Don´t want to,” Richie replied, clearly and very obviously moping. Seth rolled his eyes.

“Get off your ass, or I´ll stake you, Richard,” Seth bit back. He had only left Santa Sangre or Kate, or who fucking ever about 5 minutes ago, it had been surprisingly easy to find Richie. But he needed to tell his brother. _We can save her, we can get her back in control of her own body. I don´t know how, but we can._ The thought made him feel more hopeful, than Seth had felt since before Richie told him, Carlos had killed Kate. Probably closer to before Eddie had died, maybe even all the way back to before that morning at the Twister. _We can save Kate._ “And I´ll get really stabby with it.”

“What the hell do you care?” Richie retorted, having slid the bedspread down, but still not looking at Seth. It was endlessly frustrating, and Seth was definitely considering punching him. He balled his fists. How the hell could his brother be so endlessly pathetic? He wanted to shake him, or yell at him, whatever the fuck would get Richard´s head in the game. “Kate tried to kill me, and I-“

“Jesus Christ, Richard, it wasn´t Kate!” Seth replied, raising his voice a little higher than he had intended to. But then again, he was at present pretty pissed. Richard pushed himself up into a sitting position, and finally met Seth´s eyes.

“It wasn´t what?” Richie asked, clearly caught off guard. It took him a moment of thinking, before he continued. “Bullshit, of course it was.”

“Guessing Santanico didn´t find you then,” Seth replied, and crossed his arms. Richie moved to the edge of the bed, and looked up at Seth expecting an explanation. It was a really annoying, but easily identifiable look on his brother´s face. “After you´d stormed off, Santanico interrogated her. She found out, that Kate is possessed; by the blood well, Santa Sangre, or whatever the fuck it is called. Apparently the reason Kate wants to kill us, is because the spirits think it´s the best way to take revenge. But she also found out the only way to save Kate, was either killing her and condemning her to hell, or letting the spirits kill us.”

“And what the fuck good is that supposed to do?” Richie asked bitterly, glaring at Seth. “Being killed by a demon possessing Kate, really isn´t that much better than just Kate wanting to kill us all.”

“Richard, I talked to her too!” Seth bit back, and actually had to stop himself from punching him, it practically itched in his fingers to do it. Not for the first time, but this time he literally felt like he was fuming. Richard looked at him, and Seth clenched his jaw. “Santanico told me all that shit, and then I went down in the basement to talk to her. She´s not-“ He swallowed hard. “She´s not just that demon, there´s something left of Kate too.”

Seth could see the wheels turning in his brother´s big, fat brain, as he rose up and started pacing. It quickly dawned on him, what Seth had meant. His voice was thick and dry, and to Seth he sounded like he was on the verge of crying. “And who says we can save her, huh? Did you even think about that?”

“Because she-“ Seth began, and suddenly he did feel unsure. It was a strange effect his brother had on him, that even despite Richie´s piss poor decision making since that day, he killed the ranger, Seth still wanted to believe in him. Still wanted him to make the plan. _But we can save her._ He reminded himself and it didn´t even fucking matter how right now. They were going to save her. Kate wasn´t gone. That was the important thing. “Because it doesn´t make sense, she would shoot you first. Her gun was packed with regular bullets. It, she, they or whatever meant to kill me.”

“So?” Richie asked, but there was something different about his expression. Something less miserable, more resolved. _Fucking finally_ , Seth thought to himself.

“I think Kate shot you instead, because it wouldn´t kill you,” Seth explained slowly. Richie just nodded. Seth shoved his hands into his pockets and drew a long breath. He might as well tell Richie everything that had been turning around in his head on the walk up here. “I think she hates us, that´s fine, I get that. But I don´t think Kate wants to kill us, I think that´s the Santa Sangre. Not her. We can save her.”

“How?” Richie asked, his hands shaking.

“I don´t know,” Seth admitted. But there had to be some way, they could do this. They ran a fucking vampire empire, which was not a situation, Seth would have imagined being in 4 months ago. “But we´ll figure it out. We can save her.”

Seth could see how badly his brother wanted to believe him.

…

Richie really didn´t want to do this. Granted, Seth hadn´t thought it was a good idea either, but somehow that had only given him the last push to go down to the office, even if he still hated the idea. It was even his own idea, so this was all looking great. Just fucking peachy. Richie wasn´t optimistic, so he was far from sure, he would get anything out of this.

 _“I hope you burn in hell!”_ Maybe Seth could live with the idea, that Kate hated him. Maybe the only reason Seth could handle that, was because she hadn´t said it to his face. Maybe Seth was just better at pretending, it wasn´t real. But Richie couldn´t. He couldn´t stand the idea, that Kate hated him, which was exactly why this was such a terrible idea. Because he was going to talk to her. When he had gotten the idea, it had terrified him. He would have to look at her, knowing it wasn’t her. Seth had talked to him, explained it. Explained that it wasn´t Kate, or not entirely Kate anyway.

Richie had spent the last 4 months, feeling guilty about it. Guilty about letting her die. If only he´d had the guts to kick her out of that car, she wouldn´t have been on that oilrig. He wouldn´t have had to watch her bleed out, where he had no way of saving her. He´d wondered, whether it had been hard for Seth to kick her out in Mexico. From the memory, he´d glimpsed from Kate, it didn´t seem like it. Richie hadn´t asked Seth about Mexico, and Seth hadn´t brought it up. But Richie had missed her in those 3 months, he hadn´t realized just how much, until he saw her again. Jack-knifes was busy that night, and every table was full. It had taken them a couple of weeks to get things back on track, but they were now. Richie walked through the bar, and one of the waitresses paused and watched him. “Want anything, boss?” she asked with a slight southern drawl.

He looked at her for a long moment. _I want her alive and okay. I want her not possessed by some demon. I want her not hate me. I just want her not to hate me._ He almost said that, he wanted to say that, but what good would that do? It wasn´t going to fix their problem. It wasn´t going to save Kate, and Richie already wasn´t nearly as sure as his brother, that they could even save her. He shook his head. “Maybe later,” he said dismissively, and headed out back again.

 _I just want her not to hate me. But that is asking for too much isn´t it?_ Richie made his way down the stairs, and the long hallways down to their office. He suddenly noticed, his hands were shaking and clenched his fists tightly, so tightly, his knuckles were completely white. She was chained up, the only way, she could hurt him was with words. It wasn´t like she could shoot him or anything. She was captured, this wasn´t going to be that bad. He was just going to talk to her, to try to figure out some kind of way to save her. Some way, she hadn´t told Seth or Santanico, even though he didn´t know what that possibly could be. It was going to be fine, he told himself again, but regardless of how many times, he told himself that, he didn´t believe it.

There weren´t any of the usual guards around, once he reached the office, and maybe that should have alerted him that something was wrong, but he was such a nervous wreck, that the implications completely escaped his attention. He pushed the door open, fully expecting Kate, or what was left of her, sitting in the corner waiting to torture him. Even if it was just with words. But what he found was so much worse. It took him a moment to even realize it. He bent down slightly, and brushed his hand through the stuff on the floor, culebra ashes. _Shit._ Then he looked to the corner, where Santanico, Seth and Scott had left Kate, or the demon, and just saw the chain. Nothing or nobody else. His breath caught in his throat for an instant, and he felt a chill going down his spine.

“Shit!” Richie yelled


	4. Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, finally time for a new chapter. We´re reaching the end soon.

“We need to find her,” Richard said below his breath, and continued to pace around the office, gaze directed at the floor. He suddenly paused and looked at his brother. Seth was standing in the corner with a murderous look directed at the chains on the floor. The chains that were supposed to hold Santa Sangre. Santanico had honestly thought they would, guess Santa Sangre was stronger, than she had even possibly considered her to be. “We need to find her.”

“Yes, I know that genius!” Seth bit sharply, and by Santanico´s calculations, he was about 5 seconds away from jumping at Richard, using him as a punching bag. Santanico crossed her arms, and looked between the two brothers. Richard had called them down here about 10 minutes ago, and after the Geckos had stopped getting annoyed with her because of the chains, they´d started trying to bite each other´s heads off. As far as Santanico knew them, that was according to form. Trying to punch Richard in the face, was pretty much the first thing, he´d done after Richard came back from the oil rig. “Are you actually going to have a fucking idea, or are we just going to sit here and wait to die?”

“Weren´t you the idiot, who wanted to save her?” Richard yelled. Santanico was a little surprised by that, Richard was rarely angry. His outburst earlier had been something else, something that wasn´t anger. He was hiding it somewhat, but he was unravelling. Santanico wasn´t sure, she wanted to see what happened, if he completely unravelled. Looking to Seth, she could see the hurt flashing across his face for an instant. That was the difference between the two of them, she figured, Seth believed there was still some of Kate left. Richard didn´t. Santanico wasn´t sure, Richard would openly admit it though. “Look how fucking well, that´s going.”

“Well, I wasn´t counting on her escaping and running around to kill us again, was I?” Seth yelled back, at the same volume. That was less surprising to Santanico. She had seen the same boiling anger under the surface, once it had dawned on him, Richard had a part in Kate´s death. She expected him to be angry, and he clearly was. He liked to try and act, and to try and hide his emotions, but right now he wasn´t trying at all. He was just angry. Seth had taken several steps towards Richard, and Richard had backed further towards the desk, like a cornered animal. They´d probably fight, try to punch each other, and yell some more, if she left them alone. But it wasn´t helping anybody, if she did. They weren´t sure how much damage Santa Sangre was going to course just yet, or even if she was going to stop at Seth, Richard and Scott.

“Quiet!” she said from her side. Both of them turned their heads towards her, almost comically fast, giving her an expecting look. Almost as if they expected her to have a solution, even though she didn´t know why. Santanico would laugh, but she couldn’t see the point. She let out a long breath, and rolled her eyes. “Neither of you are helping anyone by bickering, we can either find her, or get the hell out of here.”

“Where is Scott?” Seth asked, his voice a little thick. Santanico could still sense the boiling anger beneath the surface, it would probably spill out if he was provoked again. But he no longer looked like he wanted to beat his brother to a bloody pulp. She decided to take her victories where she could.

“Upstairs,” Richard answered curtly. Seth avoided both her and Richard´s eyes.

“I´ll go get him,” Seth said quietly. Nobody argued with him. “Let´s go find her.”

Santanico watched Richard, as Seth left. Richard looked tense, panicking. She took a step into his space, and Richard shook slightly. Then she recognized, what was there besides anger. He was scared, Richard was absolutely terrified. She´d seen him scared before, that was the benefit of getting inside his head a lot, he had gotten better at hiding it. “You´re scared,” she said as close to soft, as she could.

“What?” Richard asked, his voice barely audible. It looked like something dawned on him, and he gave her a look, which was probably meant to look annoyed. In reality, it was sadder than that. Weaker. “I hate it when you do that.”

“Do what?” she asked, because she honestly wasn´t sure what he meant.

“Look through everything,” Richard said, and sounded like he was surrendering. Santanico recognized the tone of voice immediately. “You always know which buttons to push. You always know exactly what to do, to get people to listen to you. But maybe you´re right. Maybe I am scared.”

“Why?” she asked, her voice hushed. She ignored the fact, that he was so very wrong about the manipulation part. If she knew how to get people, to do exactly as she wanted, she would have spent a hell of a lot shorter time in Malvado´s company. She could have lived hundreds of years and been happy, instead of being stuck in one space, trapped.

“Don´t pretend like you give a shit. You´re fucking terrible at it,” Richard said with a small, angry huff. Santanico resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him, or punch him. Both were somewhat tempting, even if she knew, it wouldn´t exactly be particularly helpful.

“There´s a vengeful blood spirit running around somewhere here, Richard. She´s here to kill you, Scott and your brother, but there´s no guarantee of her stopping with you,” Santanico said bluntly. Richard looked a little taken aback. “I´d rather not end the night with a stake in my chest. And if you´re scared of her, or not thinking clearly, that´s exactly what´s going to happen, and I´d rather like to stay alive, thanks. Good enough for you?”

“I´ll take it,” Richard replied quietly. He hesitated a while, but he probably realized, they didn´t have time to wait for him, to find the courage to talk about it. Even though Santanico could clearly tell, he wanted to wait. “But yeah, I´m terrified. Kate died hating me, she hated me with every fibre of her being. She told me- She told me to burn in hell. When I- When I went into her memories, when Carlos brought her to Malvado, I saw things. She liked Seth. She stuck around for him, she could- she could forgive him, if she came back. She could probably forgive Scott too, because he´s her brother. But me- I am terrified, if Kate came back it wouldn´t change a thing for her. She´d still hate me.”

He paused and swallowed hard. Santanico saw him clench his fists tightly, his knuckles completely white. He almost looked like he was shaking a little bit. “I have barely been scared of anything, since you turned me. But I´m fucking terrified of seeing her again,” Richard said below his breath.

“Fear isn´t helping us,” Santanico said, her voice colder than she had meant for it to be. But then again, Richard probably didn´t need pity. He wasn´t the type. Richard clenched his jaw tightly and Santanico met his eyes.

“I know,” he replied quietly.

…

There were surreal things, Scott had seen enough surreal shit to last him at least 2 lifetimes, and then there was, literally hunting for your sister in the tunnels under a bar, that was really a vampire nest. Granted, he had been working at said bar for a couple of months, but this was still top surreal shit. Scott had the crossbow thrown over his shoulder, and watched Seth fidgeting with something to his right. Scott didn´t have to be a genius to guess, what he was thinking. He wasn´t worried about not finding her, not that he was either, he was worried about what would happen when they did. “How exactly do you think, you can save her?” Scott asked.

“Don´t know,” Seth mumbled under his breath. Scott punched his shoulder hard, and he really didn´t feel too sorry about it. He glared at him, expecting him to come up with an answer of some kind. Scott didn´t exactly have high expectations, but he wouldn´t have asked Seth, if he didn´t want an answer. “I´ll bullshit it. That works for most things.”

“Great, we´re going to die,” Scott bit sharply.

“We´re not going to die,” Seth argued, but if Scott was honest with himself, Seth didn´t exactly sound very trustworthy, and Scott didn´t exactly trust him much to begin with. That was a side effect of getting kidnapped and dragged off into a temple full of murderous vampires. Scott worked for the Geckos, because they seemed to think they owed Kate something. On top of that, he got paid and got the food he needed. It was an okay deal in Scott´s mind. But Scott looked at the two thieves differently, he knew his sister cared, genuinely fucking cared about the two of them. Kate had stayed with Seth for three months in Mexico, when she could have gone home to Bethel. She had went with Richie, even though anyone else wouldn´t have trusted him for a second. But Scott was different, he didn´t even like the two brothers. The cash, the food and maybe Vivi, were the only reasons he was still here.

“We´re going to fucking die,” Scott grumbled, and Seth grabbed his arm harshly. Scott paused and glared at him again. Seth looked like he wanted to say something, and Scott knew he could break out of it if he wanted to. But it almost looked like Seth caught himself in the middle of whatever he was going to say, and let him go again. Scott gave him another pointed glare, and sighed heavily, as they headed further into the tunnel. “Why?”

“Why what?” Seth retorted, clearly on edge and tense. If Scott pushed him too hard, he´d probably jump in his face again. Not that Scott really gave a shit; he could always just bite him, if he got too annoyed with him. He may or not have been tempted to do that, more than a few times since Richie took over Malvado´s business. But part of him had always stopped himself from doing that. Maybe it was because there wasn´t that much job security for people who bit their boss.

“Why do you think, you can save her?” Scott asked, as they headed deeper into the tunnels. It was dark, even for a culebra. But Scott wasn´t that worried about it for now. They had bigger problems, than tunnels that seemed a little too dark for his personal taste. Like his sister being out to kill him for example.

“Because, she-“ Seth began, but he never got the chance to finish, whatever he was going to say, as both of them were shoved into the ground. Scott´s chest was crushed against the hard floor of the tunnel, and all air knocked out of his lungs. At least that was what it felt like in the middle of it.

“I knew, I´d find you,” not-Kate sneered, and Scott quickly realized, that the tough grip keeping him down was his sister, or what was left of her. Seth was breathing hard, and clearly struggling more than Scott was. But then again, Scott had better healing. But he still needed to find some kind of way, to get her off his back. Because he really didn´t feel like dying right now, and it seemed like that was definitely where they were going right now. He writhed against her, as she started talking again. She didn´t seem to notice. “I would be lying, if I said we haven´t looked forward to this,” not-Kate continued smugly.

“Are you going to kill us or just gloat?” Seth said with a heavy breath. Another slamming punch and Scott could very distinctively smell blood. But Scott really couldn´t worry about Seth right now, not that he was even planning to, because he used the momentary distraction to finally knock not-Kate off his back, and scrambled to his feet.

“Are you really going to make this hard for me?” not-Kate sneered. Scott´s brain was working in high-speed trying to figure things out. Trying to figure out, how they could get out of this, without Kate dying, Seth dying or himself dying. Until something suddenly clicked in his head. His breath caught in his throat for a second, before he took a step towards her.

“No,” Scott drew a long heavy breath; his hands were shaking a little. He took another step towards her. “It´s okay if you kill me.”

“What?” not-Kate said her voice a little shaky. She suddenly sounded so much like his sister, and something in Scott´s chest ached. He had to keep his focus on what he needed to say to her. Her expression quickly turned back into one, with a look that could probably literally kill.

“Isn´t that what dad would have said? That you need to forgive people? Well, I am not asking you to forgive me, because I deserve this. That´s why I forgive you for doing it,” Scott said. Not-Kate still looked like she wasn´t understanding exactly, what he was trying to say. “I was the one, who bit him. He didn´t tell you that, did he? You told me, you had to kill him before he could turn, that´s my fault. Weren´t you happier, he was dead than like me?”

“Shut up!” not-Kate sneered at him, grabbing her stake tighter in her right hand. Her knuckles were completely white. Scott didn´t move this time, he knew, if he took a step closer to her, there was a relatively good chance, he wouldn´t live to finish his next sentence, and he needed to.

“And you never would have had to die, if it wasn´t for me, Kate. Seth and Richie fucked you over, but you wouldn´t have been at that oilrig, if it wasn´t for me. You were there- you were there trying to save me,” Scott continued. He could feel a lump in his throat, but he had to keep on talking. “So it´s okay, Kate. You can kill me.”

“You really think that´s going to work?” not-Kate asked, but she was quivering. Her hands were shaking wildly, even though it didn´t look her grip on the stake had loosened even a tiny bit.

“I am not playing you, Kate,” he said not flinching for even a tiny second. He had to convince her, and it was getting easier and easier. Because he was starting to believe it more and more, that it was okay, that Kate could kill him that it would all be all right. He could feel tears on his cheeks, but that couldn´t change anything. He took a small step towards her; not-Kate in return took a step back. That surprised him, he hadn´t expected her to literally try to back off. “Seriously, you know how shitty a liar I am, do you really think, I could say this, if I didn´t mean it?”

“Yes,” she bit at him, but her voice was shaking. She tried to look away from him again, but he managed to catch her gaze and hold it. Her hands were quivering even more, than they had before. “You´re not- You´re supposed to-“

“I am supposed to fight back?” Scott asked, taking another step towards her. She pointed the stake at him, at his heart. Scott tried not to pay too much attention to the piece of wood. It was okay. It was all going to be okay, no matter what happened. He knew that, and he was still certain she would kill him.

“Yes!” she all but shouted, and the stake dropped out of her hand. She didn´t appear to notice, as the piece of wood echoed against the floor. Scott didn´t move, and dug his nails into his palms. He forced himself to meet her eyes, and not-Kate didn´t look away. Instead she was glaring back, almost like she was daring him to look away. She almost convinced him, almost.

“I am not going to fight back,” Scott said simply, his voice calm and patient. That would have shocked him, in any other situation like this, but this was his fucking sister. So he wasn´t shocked, instead all his focus was on Kate, or not-Kate or whoever he was looking at. “You can hurt me all you want, but I am still going to forgive you, because I deserve this, Kate. So please just get it over with and kill me.”

“I can´t,” Kate said, her voice essentially a hushed whisper. Scott couldn´t do anything but just stare at her. She sounded desperate and like she was panicking, like something was unravelling inside her. “I can´t, I can´t- I can´t kill you, Scott.” He heard the choked sob that escaped her. The next words out of her mouth were quiet. “I don´t want to kill you.”

“Kate-“ He took a couple of steps towards her. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and her entirely eyeball turned red. A black mist seemed to flow around her, and she stood completely frozen for a moment, as something lifted from her. Her hands were shaking violently, and she suddenly screamed, the noise an ear-piercing scream. The roaring sound echoed through the hallway, and then suddenly she was silent. Her eyes flew open, and suddenly she was looking at him with his sister´s eyes. Everything about her expression so inherently Kate, that Scott felt like he could barely breathe. Then she collapsed on the floor.

“Kate,” he only just caught her before she hit the ground. She was pale, deadly pale. He couldn´t find a pulse, no, no, no. She couldn´t be dead. Scott felt like his breath was catching in his throat, and something was clenching in his chest. Her body was slack, and he couldn´t get contact with her. Scott´s heart was pounding in his ears, and he could barely think straight. “Don´t be dead. Please don´t be dead.”

He sat in silence for a long moment. Seth still seemed to be knocked out, but in all honesty Scott didn´t give a shit about him. He just sat on the floor, holding his sister, hoping against hope that she´d open her eyes again. That she´d just open her eyes and just be Kate, his sister again. He would have prayed, if he´d thought God would listen to him. Maybe he sat like that, holding onto Kate, for a couple of minutes, maybe longer, maybe shorter. He wasn´t sure. But suddenly she coughed, and convulsed, her eyes slowly opening. “Scott?” she said weakly, and he didn´t even have to ask her. He knew, he was staring into the eyes of his sister, just his sister, and he smiled to her.


	5. Part 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it´s way way way overdue, but good news, we finally have the final part of this story here. Hope you enjoy it.

Being alive again was weird. Especially after so long, several months according to Scott. Technically, Kate had never really been gone. She hadn´t gone to heaven, she hadn´t seen her mother and father, she´d been trapped with Santa Sangre, since she died. But now she was alive again, and it was strange. Kate´s head still felt kind of thick, and her breathing was a little ragged. The sensation of actually breathing, still felt foreign. Santa Sangre hadn´t really been breathing, so she was hyperaware of her own breathing, and her pulse. She was leaning against Scott, as they made their ways through the hallways. They were back at Jackknife´s Jed, which Seth and Richie ran now, or at least according to the kind of hushed and strange memories. That was how Santa Sangre´s memories of the last months felt, like she´d seen it ages ago, but it was faded away now. Like it had happened to someone else, because there was pieces missing too.

Seth was walking behind them, sulking. His hands were buried deep in his pockets, and he was looking at the ground. Seth hadn´t said anything to her, since Scott woke him up. But Kate could close her eyes, and see the look, he´d given her, once Scott had explained the entire situation to them. It had only been for a moment, but it had been so uncharacteristically Seth, that it had shocked her. There was something so soft, about the way he´d looked at her. Something that told her, he was so grateful about her being alive, about her being okay, and it was strange. The last time, she´d seen him, he had kicked her out of a car.

They stopped outside of the office, the last time Kate had been here, it had been Malvado´s office, and she would be dead in a couple of hours. Thinking back on that was unsettling, and she clenched her fists tightly. Scott must have seen something on her face, because he gave her a concerned look. “I´ll be fine,” she said, her voice quiet. Scott didn´t look like he believed her, but Kate didn´t hold that against him. She probably wouldn´t have believed her either, if she had been in his shoes. “It´s okay, I´ll be fine.”

Seth opened the door for them, and the two of them made their way into the office, Kate still moving a little slowly but starting to feel better. Richie was sulking in the corner, his expression even darker than Seth´s had been. Kate could tell how he was fiddling with his hands, and obviously and clearly tense. Santanico was sitting on his desk, playing with a small knife. She looked up the moment the door opened, Richie didn´t even seem to notice, which was also telling. _“You´re yourself again,”_ Santanico said, her lips not moving, and her voice sounding like there was a barrier between the two of them. It dawned on Kate that Santanico was inside her head. _“Impressive, I didn´t think it was possible.”_

 _Thanks_ , Kate thought, hoping Santanico could hear the slightly wry tone in her voice. Judging by Santanico´s smirk, she did. Kate kind of appreciated that, her memory of Santanico interrogating the Santa Sangre was fuzzy, but none of Kate´s other interactions with the older woman had been positive exactly. On top of that, she always seemed to have this cool detached edge to her, which always made her seem like she never really cared about anybody. Santanico slid down from the desk, and turned on her heel towards Richie. “Richard, we´ve got company.”

“What are you tal-“ Richie began, and Kate knew the exact moment he spotted her. He instantly got up from his chair, but then didn´t move. There was something worried about his expression, which was a far step away from Seth´s weird unexpected expression. Richie looked almost scared, like he was expecting her to jump at him at any moment, and stake him. It was so foreign to Kate, and she took a small step backwards, tempted to run in the opposite direction and deal with this another time.

“It´s her, Richie,” Seth said his tone unreadable, even if Kate hadn´t directed most of her attention to Richie, and trying to figure everything out, sort everything out in her head. Scott had been easy, he was her family and Kate knew she wanted to keep him around. Seth had been easy too, she was mad at him for dropping her out of that car, but so much had happened since, that it almost seemed unimportant now. Santanico was just Santanico. Richie was really the difficult one for her to figure out. “It´s Kate, actual Kate not Santa Sangre or whatever. Scott saved her, we don´t know how exactly, but he saved her.”

“He´s right, Richard,” Santanico said from where, she´d been observing them with her arms crossed. She had the same cool and detached edge, which made Kate uncertain about her. It made sure, that Kate never really knew how to figure out what Santanico was thinking or what she was going to do. And she still felt so new to this whole thing, that not knowing what someone was going to do, was unsettling. “For whatever reason, there´s no trace left of Santa Sangre in her mind. She is completely and entirely Kate Fuller.”

“Are you still inside my head?” Kate asked, turning her attention towards Santanico for the moment. Santanico grinned, and tapped her fingers. Because if Santanico was still in her head, and she couldn´t tell, that was more than slightly concerning. Especially right after, she´d had Santa Sangre inside her head telling her what to do.

“No, I am just effective with 10 seconds,” Santanico said calmly with a proud smile. Kate almost rolled her eyes at her, or something like that. But she returned her attention to Richie instead, figuring bickering with Santanico Pandemonium, maybe shouldn´t be the fifth thing you do after you come back to life, and you´re no longer controlled by a revenge spirit of some kind.

“That´s worrying,” Seth mumbled under his breath, Kate´s mouth might have twitched slightly. Maybe she had to ask Seth about that at some point. Not now though, that wasn´t going to the sixth thing.

“You´re you,” Richie said quietly, his voice barely more than a whisper. Kate nodded silently, not sure what words would come out of her mouth, if she started talking. Not sure, if they would be good or bad. So instead she watched Richie. “Kate- Kate, I am so sorry. I never meant for you to be-“

“I know,” Kate said quietly, swallowing hard. She sucked on her bottom lip to concentrate for a second, figuring out what exactly to say. “I know, Richie. And you´re not the only one to blame for everything that went wrong that night. But I can´t- I need time, time to process and work through all of this. It´s a lot for me. I can´t forgive you, or Scott or Seth, not right now. But maybe someday, or maybe never completely. You get that right?”

“I get that,” Richie said, avoiding Kate´s searching eyes. He fiddled with his glasses, and took them off and on again once, before he said anything else. His voice was a little drier, but Kate could still hear the same worry in it, as before. “I wasn´t expecting you to, Kate. Just wanted to say, I was sorry anyway.”

“Thanks,” Kate replied, a tiny smile sneaking its way onto her face. She looked down at the ground for a moment, before she said something again. Mainly because she wasn´t sure what exactly to say to him. What could she say to him, when the last time she´d seen him, she´d been cursing him to hell? “That´s actually nice.”

“Are you saying, I´m not nice usually?” Richie asked, almost sounding insulted, and Seth let out a frustrated groan, Scott sighed heavily and Santanico rolled her eyes. Kate´s smile grew a little bit more. This was oddly enough making things feel more familiar, than they had before. It made being alive again, feel less weird and more like things had been, first at the Twister and then later in Mexico, and on her chase to find Scott. With less dying obviously.

“Easily wounded ego,” Santanico said in a dry, slightly bored tone. Richie looked down into the ground for a moment. Kate could have sworn she saw Scott smirk knowingly. This was apparently the kind of argument, he´d seen more than a few times. She probably would have seen it more than a couple of times, if she hadn´t been dead. “It´s a Gecko brothers´ problem.”

“That was not what I meant,” Kate clarified, before either Richie or Seth could jump at Santanico. Seth looked like he took a deep breath and counted to ten. Santanico was still smiling, and Kate had to admit she was smiling too. If she´d had a chance to picture, what it would be like to come back from the death and land herself back with the Gecko brothers, Santanico and Scott, this was exactly what she would have pictured.

…

Seth paused in the doorway, and watched Kate pack for a second. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, except for a couple of strands that had fallen out of it. Kate didn´t tie her hair up often, so maybe he paid a little more attention to it, than he should have. She shoved a book into her bag, and then suddenly stopped. She turned slightly and looked at him. “Trying to figure out how to get me to stay?” Kate asked, crossing her arms, but there was a small smile on her face and no malice in her voice.

“Trying to figure out, where I want a souvenir from,” Seth replied, not meeting her eyes. He was too much of a coward for that. He stepped into her room, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Are you and Scotty planning to visit Niagara Falls?”

“There isn´t really much of a plan,” Kate admitted.

“No I guess not, you just want to get the hell away from us, as soon as possible,” Seth said, mad at himself the moment, he saw the look on her face. He was making assumptions apparently, apparently shitty assumptions. Back to normal then. He met her eyes for a second, before she looked away. “Sorry, shouldn´t have said that.”

“No,” Kate admitted, without looking at him. Then suddenly, she looked up at him, as if she needed to, for whatever she was going to say next. “But to be honest, you´re probably at least half right. I just need- I mean, everything has been shit for so long.” Seth might have smiled at that, maybe because her language kind of surprised him. “I just need it to be maybe not be, to just get away from all of this. For now.”

“So I guess this is goodbye then?” Seth said after a long pause, where Kate was just looking at him, as if she was waiting for him to say something. She furrowed her brow, when he said that though. “You two, are just going to pack your bags, and get as far away from here as possible?” Kate looked at him, almost like she didn´t quite get what the hell, he was talking about. Seth couldn´t see how, she could not understand it though.

“Seth, I said for now,” Kate reminded him. Now, it was his turn to look confused. She took a step towards him, but didn´t quite look him in the eye. “Don´t get me wrong, it´s going to take me a while to forgive Richie, and you, hell, even to forgive Scott. But I think I´m going to, eventually.”

“You know, you don´t owe any of us shit right?” Seth asked, surprisingly actually meaning it. He didn´t want her to go, but he wasn´t going to try and make her stay. Because it was perfectly fucking fair, if she wanted to leave and never come back. For fuck´s sake, he and Richie had kidnapped her entire family and both had their fair share of the blame for her ending up shot by Carlos. As much he hated to admit the last part, and not just blame it all on Richie. But that didn´t mean, he was going to make her to stay.

“Yeah I know,” Kate replied with a small smile. She crossed her arms, and looked at him. “But you´re probably still useless without me.”

The joke sounded a little forced, but Seth appreciated it anyway, so he returned her smile, almost as a reflex. “I´m just surprised, Scott is going to leave his girlfriend behind,” he added, not entirely willing to say properly goodbye to her yet. Even if they both probably knew, that was why he was there. He´d also much rather talk about Scott and Vivi, than attempt to say goodbye to her, or talk about any of the billions of problems they still had. Maybe he was a little bitch, but at least he admitted it.

“Girlfriend?” Kate asked, and it looked like she was kind of on the verge of laughing. “Why is this the first time, I´m hearing about this?”

“Crush technically, probably,” Seth clarified. Seth wasn´t about to get his head bitten off by Scott. At least preferably not. “But he tries to flirt with her, like shit. Also awfully protective of her, almost tore some trucker´s head off the other day for hitting on her.”

“Didn´t know, just because you punched a guy for being a misogynist jackass, that you automatically had a crush on a girl,” Kate said matter of factly, and crossed her arms. Seth saw a small smirk in the corner of her mouth, and suddenly he remembered the first guy back at the Twister, not to mention the various assholes, they´d met while they were in Mexico. She couldn´t be fucking serious. Suddenly he was very worried.

“Kate-“ He opened his mouth to protest, and suddenly the smirk turned into something that looked a lot like concern instead.

“Seth, that was a joke. I can make those,” Kate told him with a small smile, looking like she was about to laugh. Seth sighed, and might have shaken his head slightly. He didn´t quite look into her eyes.

“Oh, you´ve got jokes now?” Seth asked, and Kate flashed him a grin, nodding. The biggest smile, he´d ever actually seen her smile. He didn´t know why he noticed it now, better not think too much about that. They stood in silence for a moment, he wasn´t sure, if he wanted to say something, or if he should just go. To be fucking honest, he should probably go. “I missed you, Kate,” he said quietly, making himself look at her. After all, when the fuck had he ever done the smart thing?

“You know, I never thought I´d say this,” Kate began, not quite looking into his eyes. She uncrossed her arms, and pushed her hair out of her face. Seth was genuinely fucking clueless about what she was going to say. “But I missed you too.”

Well, Seth hadn´t thought, she would ever say that either. He hadn´t exactly given her a reason to miss him. With all the shit he´d pulled her through since The Dew Drop Inn. But because Seth was thinking about that, and trying to figure out something to say, Kate managed to surprise him, and wrapped her arms around him to hug him. Now, his mind definitely went blank, and they just stood like that for a moment. Neither of them saying a word, until Seth wrapped an arm loosely around her.

“Just this once,” Kate said quietly, not looking at him. But she probably knew, his face looked like a fucking question mark anyhow. Her fingers fanned out on his back, and Seth was hyper aware of her warm hands, even when he deliberately told himself not to be. “To make up for the murder attempt last time.”

“Seems like a fair deal,” Seth replied in the same quiet voice, and was surprised when Kate didn´t actually move away from him just yet. There was a strange feeling in his chest, that he pushed down. Whatever it was, he didn´t want to think about it. Instead he just noticed, how Kate pressed her head against his shoulder, and for a moment, his eyes fell shut and he drew out a sigh of relief. Relief about what? None of anyone else´s damn business.


End file.
